Advice for a retinue I have been planning

[Lacomus Laurentius]

Greetings,

This is my first post here on the Conclave, though I have been around for a while and have been interested in Inquisitor since it was released.
I have recently been attempting to come up with some background for the first real inquisitor team that I have ever made. This is planned, and rather large team,  will consist of:

• An Inquisitorial acolyte (an Agitator)
  A Sanctioned Psyker
  A cursed (as far as he's concerned) Tech-priest
  A disgraced Imperial Guardsman
  A Rogue trader who has dealings with the Eldar
  A "bloodhound" like mutant
  A corrupt Imperial enforcer 
  

 
My main problem being that I am having trouble expanding these characters beyond some rather vague but otherwise very interesting concepts.

The concept I have for the team as a whole, is that they have all done something that has led to a lapse in faith and now seek to make amends and are being led by the acolyte who is using there insane zeal and desire for penance for his (or rather his masters) nefarious purposes.

As for the characters individually, their backgrounds I'm not set on for the most part other than just a few lines (I mean that literally).

First off, if your wondering why I went for an Agitator and not some other form of acolyte, it was because I felt it offered the freedom for the character to make his own decisions but still left room for a shadowy master figure, which I thought was rather cool but feel free to suggest a better alternative. As I have nearly finished the model for this character, I saw him as a thinker not a fighter, as well as someone who was exceptionally skilled at getting others to do what he wants, rather than doing it himself, hence the model was only very lightly armed and armoured. Originally I had written a very short piece of background about how he was the son of a deceased noble and how he had spent time at a schola progenium but have since gotten rid of it as I did not see it as fitting.

The Sanctioned Psyker was originally going to be a penitent wych, until I read "The Sanctioning Brand" and I did not really like the concept. so no new ideas as regards this one but I do have a model for them. However, silly question I'm sure , but do Sanctioned Psykers carry staffs as badges of office or some such? As all pictures I can find of them have them with staffs and the model I made (due to lack of model making skills) has no staff. Pretty sure they can be armed with anything but thought I would ask here as I'm no expert on background.

The Tech-priest background was inspired by a Dark Heresy resource, essentially his body has partly rejected his cybernetic implants and as a result they function rather poorly. Hence he believes he is cursed.

As for what I mean by "bloodhound" mutant, in case nobody guessed, was a mutant with a super sense of smell. I figured it would make a refreshing change from the super strong close combat mutants out there. My main query with this one is the model though, as I had originally thought of giving him a canine like snout. However whilst I liked the bestial feel that would give him I just felt that was a bit too weird for a mutant that I didn't want to be chaos influenced. Any ideas as to a better model would be appreciated.

As for the rest of them I have yet to write any background, mostly because I can't fathom a scenario in which these guys would not be shot, burned at the stake or otherwise killed.

I will post up stats later as I really need to get some sleep. I apologise profusely  for the rather blog like post but any help would be appreciated.               

[Eziah Kranox]

Okay, the concept is good. Just a couple of things though.
As to the psyker, to my knowledge the only thing mandatory for a sanctioned psyker to carry is a Psykana Mercy Blade, but a force staff is just something that is engrained in pop culture when it comes to wizards or in 40k psykers... But l may be wrong, in which case one of the more knowledgeable members will set us straight.
With the disgraced guardsman, what did he do? If he deserted it would be a lot easier to explain if he was a member of the PDF instead. On the other hand there is nothing dropping you from having a guard deserter, they are just less plentiful than PDF deserters.
For your idea to work does the enforcer have to be corrupt?

That is all I can really comment on atm as we need more background to critique first...
Just my 2c =D
Eziah Kranox

[Kaled]

If I were you, I wouldn't necessarily worry about getting all of their background sorted at this stage - I'd suggest building the models, maybe play a game or two and add to their background as you go along. You've got a few ideas of who these characters are so you can use that to inform the model building process, and as you build the model you will likely get more of a feel for what type of person the character is. The same goes for playing your first games - they'll give you more of an idea of who the character is by the way you feel he should be played and that can stimulate ideas you may not have thought of before as to his background.

In other words, I'd look at the character creation process as an iterative one. Don't even try to complete it until the model is build and he's been used in a few games. That's not to say there's anything wrong with writing down your current ideas, but if you find yourself struggling building the models and playing games can give you a different perspective on your characters.

I don't see anything wrong with the ideas you've come up with so far so just keep exploring them and see where you end up.

Oh and...
Welcome to the Conclave

[Lacomus Laurentius]

To Eziah Kranox: The guardsman may work better as a PDF deserter, though I do have some old background for a bounty hunter, that I never made into a model which with a bit of tweaking could easily become the background for this fellow.

The Enforcer does not have to be corrupt, just could not explain why they would be in a group with a rouge trader, mutant and such, since I figured the average Enforcer would view them with disdain (and may kill them on sight). Also I wasn't sure how much power an Inquisitor's acolyte would wield, since theoretically, a fully ordained Inquisitor in the same situation, could just say: "This is the Emperor's will. Do not question it!".

To Kaled: Whilst I would ideally like to play some games, to my knowledge there is no local club that plays Inquisitor. Whilst I have been trying to get friends interested the the game it would be nice to be able to play someone with a bit of experience. Also thanks for the welcome. 

[Kaled]

Whilst I would ideally like to play some games, to my knowledge there is no local club that plays Inquisitor

Where do you live? If you're in the UK we have events in Nottingham every few months and you'd be very welcome at one of those.

[Lacomus Laurentius]

I do live in the UK. Somerset

[Kaled]

Our next event is the IGT - you'd be welcome to join us at that or any of our other events. It is a tournament, but it's not especially competitive and people are always happy to help new players with their first games.
http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1974.0

[Gideon]

WELCOME TO THE CONCLAVE!

With that out of the way, I'd like to say that I think your concepts, themes and ideas are brilliant. I love the combination of faith and shame as a driving force, the idea of a shadowy controlling mastermind, and the flawed characters.

It doesn't matter that you only have a nebulous set of concepts. Make the models, paint the models, and ruminate. Other ideas and thoughts will follow. As one character develops, so will others. Perhaps the mutant is essentially a slave-servant? Perhaps the Ad Mech Techpriest is suicidal?

[Dolnikan]

They seem like very interesting concepts, I only have questions about one character, the Rogue Trader. They are immensely powerful people, and their warrant of trade alone is worth a vast fortune. I don't really see someone like that running around with someone like your leader, maybe a mere smuggler would fit better and it would be a bit more low-key.

[Lacomus Laurentius]

I could turn him into a smuggler, however I have already built the model for this character out of the body of the Eldar ranger, Eisenhorn's arms and the head from the rogue trader model which I had lying around. Given these parts, I figured he would have to be someone higher than a smuggler.I always assumed smugglers would look similar to the Slick Devlan or Talon models. Another part of my rational for making him a rogue trader was that the model, whilst carrying no alien or powerful weapons, does have various pieces of Eldar armour and an Eldar talisman and various other bits and pieces. To my mind a smuggler simply would not be able to get hold of even this. Of course I may be underestimating smugglers in the Imperium.

[Dolnikan]

It depends, a good smuggler could find such stuff. They are found in many kinds. Most smugglers of course are simple henchmen who don't make much, but others are very effective and can get very, very rich.

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm not sure why selling cosmetics is a more likely excuse for xenotech than smuggling.
Mind you, it does seem that lots of people think makeup is apparently very lucrative and shady business in the Imperium. People keep writing rouge traders that are always extremely wealthy, of limited morals and possessed of powerful nemeses.

It's almost as if people keep mixing up the words rouge and rogue.

~~~~~

Or to be more sensible, smugglers can prove to be pretty powerful people that fit a wide spectrum.

My own smuggler character is having a total retcon at the moment, but it's looking like he'll be what remains of an old trading dynasty (not, however, to be mistaken with Rogue Traders and their mandate to explore beyond the Imperium) after it started to develop genetic flaws. Not tentacles and things, but more mundane mutations like sterility and rejection of normal rejuvenat, resulting in an attempt to turn to more desperate methods (heretech and xenotech - not anything Chaos tainted. Yet.) of furthering his existence - which naturally meant falling in with, and doing some favours for, some of the shadier types in the Imperium.
While definitely a smuggler, he can still put all of the remaining wealth of his dying dynasty to use. Hence, a wealthy smuggler.
He does not, however, possess the power of a rogue trader.

It's perfectly plausible that a smuggler might get his hands on xenotech (mine certainly has. A lot of it is bolted to his ship) - it might even be what he was trading; maybe he's now working for the Inquisitor in lieu of the normal sentencing that would come with such a heresy (that's the excuse I'm using, anyway).

[Lacomus Laurentius]

Very well, a smuggler I shall make him.

[dirkthe1]

One thing I looked at was making a trader- rather than a smuggler. Someone who the inquisitor pays a fee to for the use ship for a team within a sub sector. Completely legit,To the point one of my characters sides as a grox rustler- so having a transport is quite important.

[greenstuff_gav]

I do live in the UK. Somerset

there's Wargaming @ Radstock now that Triple Helix don't have a gaming hall
if you wanted a lift to the GT i could pro'lly make a detour